


Apple shampoo and rose perfume

by TheTheoryOfDreaming



Series: short prompt inspired Harry Potter oneshots [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-08
Updated: 2018-10-08
Packaged: 2019-07-28 03:23:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16233206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheTheoryOfDreaming/pseuds/TheTheoryOfDreaming
Summary: James Potter and Lily Evans brew Amortentia in class together, but something about it doesn't seem quite right.





	Apple shampoo and rose perfume

Lily Evans entered the dungeons. Alone. Her friends weren't taking potions anymore after the O.W.L.s. She sweeped her eyes through the dark room, barely lit by the torches on the bare stone walls. She saw Professor Slughorn, greeting her with a radiant smile, and Severus, whose dark eyes were as usual on her. But she hadn't forgotten what she was for him. A mudblood. Making an annoyed noise, she turned away from him and sat at a table far away from Severus, who wouldn't stop watching her. While waiting for the lesson to start, she took her books out of her bag, brought her ingredients in order and did her best to ignore the Slytherin on the other side of the dungeon.   
Just before the lesson began, James Potter stormed into the room. He had taken potions to become an auror. Lily wished potions wouldn't be required for this career. Because then she would have to deal with him less. If it was at least Peter or Remus, they were okay. But no, it had to be Potter.   
To top it all off, he knocked her off her chair and onto the cold stone floor while on his way to his seat.  
“Sorry, Evans.” He was even cheeky enough to wink at her.   
Lily ignored his outstretched hand and stood up on her own, wiping dust from her behind and smoothing out her robes. James watched her, hands in his pockets and a lopsided grin on his face.   
“How about a date to make it up to you?”  
Lily didn't bother to answer and returned to her chair.   
“Mr Potter, if you would just sit down, we could start the lesson.”, Professor Slughorn called.  
James finally removed his gaze from Lily's hair. “Of course, Professor. I apologize.”  
“Well, you are now advanced enough to start on Amortentia. Who can tell me the characteristics of this potion?”  
Lily's hand shot into the air, Severus's to, and, to everyone's surprise, James Potter's.  
“Mr Potter! Nice to see that you participate in class for once! Please.”  
James shot a quick glance into Lily's direction, who just raised an eyebrow at him.  
“Amortentia has an unusual pearly shimmer, and when brewed correctly, the steam rises from it in spirals. It also smells differently for everybody, of things we like or love.”  
Lily was impressed. He actually knew it. Little did she know that James had researched love potions in their fourth year, to lace her pumpkin juice with it. Back then his skill level wouldn't have allowed him to do it and now he was grown up enough to know it was a bad idea.   
James endured the theoretical part of the lesson. For a change he knew everything the teacher was talking about and Snape was really boring when he started droning about potions.  
Finally they were moving to the practical part. Slughorn was dividing the students into pairs.  
“Mr Snape, please team up with Miss Evans, Mr Potter ...” But before James could learn who his partner was, Lily interrupted the professor.   
“With all due respect, Sir, I think pairing me with Severus is not necessary. We are both on top of the class. It would be unfair to the others.”  
Slughorn looked surprised, but in no way insulted. “You are right, Miss Evans. Very well, you will then work with Mr Potter, and Mr Snape ...” He glanced around the dungeon, but everybody had a partner. “Well, I'm sure you are skilled enough to do in on your own. Alright, get to work, everybody! You have one hour.”  
Lily closed her eyes. Not Potter. Merlin, she would have preferred Severus, actually. But it was too late, James dropped into a chair next to her and beamed at her.  
“Stop grinning, Potter, heat up the kettle!”  
“Already there.” His eyes moved over her body appreciatively. Lily rolled her eyes at him. Would he ever finish puberty?  
“Potter, you know what I mean.”  
He laughed and turned to the kettle, whilst Lily went over the list of ingredients.  
They were working together surprisingly well, once James cut down his flirting for a bit.  
Their hour was almost over, and Lily leaned over the kettle. The steam was correct, the color as well. But the scent was missing. Like, the potion wasn't smelling wrong, it simply didn't have a smell. Or it was too weak.  
“I can't smell a damn thing!”, James said.  
“Impossible!”, Lily snapped, even though it was the same for her. “I am 110% sure I've done everything right.  
James leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. “Well, obviously not.”  
Now Lily became mad. “Maybe we could actually smell anything if you hadn't used bucketloads of apple shampoo this morning!”  
“Oh, you're the one to talk! The amount of rose perfume you're wearing is giving me an asthma attack, and I don't even have asthma!”  
The bell rang, signaling the end of the lesson. A livid Lily filled some of the potion into a vial for grading and rushed past James out of the dungeon.  
She calmed down a little over lunch. Then she started to think about it. Her friends were chattering away, but Lily wasn't listening. She mentally went over every single step of the preparation. She knew very well that she had made no mistakes.   
Someone sat next to her, and she heard Remus's voice. Curious, she decided to listen into the discussion with James. They didn't seem to notice her.   
“No, Moony, really. Everything was perfect, apart from the smell.” So it made him uneasy, too. “She said I was covering it with the smell of my shampoo, but it was definitely her perfume.”  
Remus stopped his friend's waterfall of words.  
“Prongs, you didn't shower this morning. First, Sirius was hogging the bathroom, and second you said you'll have to shower after practice this afternoon anyways.”  
“Oh yeah, you're right. I can't be smelling of shampoo. But then how did she get the idea?”  
Lily dropped her fork. She had just remembered that she had run out of perfume last week and that she was still waiting for the owl bringing a new bottle from home.  
Had the potion been correct after all?


End file.
